Mr. Rogers movie crew member James Emswiller dies after falling 2 stories on film set

A man working on the Mister Rogers film starring Tom Hanks has died after an on-set fall in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, located about 20 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Police said James Emswiller, who is listed as a sound mixer on his IMDB page, was on a break between scenes around 7:30 p.m. EDT Thursday when he went over a brick wall on the balcony of an apartment building and fell two stories.

Police told the station that people nearby said they heard a noise and discovered Emswiller, 61, had fallen

Mount Lebanon Police Chief Aaron Lauth told WPX-TV that Emswiller, whose fall may have been triggered by some kind of medical issue, was transported to the University of Pittsburgh’s medical center. His condition became critical and he died at approximately an hour after his fall.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed his death to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The newspaper reported that star Hanks, who plays Fred Rogers, was on the set Thursday, but left after the incident. Filming was canceled for the evening.

USA TODAY has reached out to local police and the film production studio for comment.

The film is inspired by a real-life friendship between Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. Junod is depicted as a cynical scribe who begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write an Esquire profile on the iconic Mr. Rogers. He finds his life-perspective transformed in the process.

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